Even though all animals communicate, as human beings we have a special capacity to use symbols to communicate about things outside our immediate temporal and spatial reality.Frank E. While there are rich areas of study in animal communication and interspecies communication, our focus in this book is on human communication. In order to get a context for how communication has been conceptualized and studied, let’s look at a history of the field. Larson,The Functions of Human Communication: A Theoretical Approach (New York, NY: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston, 1976), 23. In fact, since the systematic study of communication began in colleges and universities a little over one hundred years ago, there have been more than 126 published definitions of communication.Frank E. This definition builds on other definitions of communication that have been rephrased and refined over many years. For our purposes in this book, we will definecommunication as the process of generating meaning by sending and receiving verbal and nonverbal symbols and signs that are influenced by multiple contexts. Review the various career options for students who study communication.īefore we dive into the history of communication, it is important that we have a shared understanding of what we mean by the word communication.Distinguish among the five forms of communication.Discuss the history of communication from ancient to modern times.